𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 — adrian bale

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 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 Selena's first time trailing the lengths of a prison. She'd seen iron bars and slate-grey walls too many times to count. The sound of yelling voices mingling together like a conglomeration of chittering foxes amidst the night was grating; like nails scratching at a chalkboard.

 She was very much aware of the glints within the prisoner's eyes as she sauntered past, dutifully stationed beside Jason, while Reid pottered behind them with his satchel clutched to his chest. There were hoots as Selena walked, hands reaching through bars, items smacked along the cages that kept them secure, echoing out like an odd crescendo sloppily played on a broken xylophone.

 There was hunger in some of their eyes, the desire to slip through cracks in their cages as though they were coated in oil — but even if they could, Selena would have taken great pleasure in knocking their bald — and empty — skulls against one another.

 Gideon came to an abrupt pause. He waited for a second, and the yells seemed to increase exponentially. As Selena peered through her peripheral, she could spy that tell-tale sign of a brain whirring like a cogged machine. Gideon was weighing his options... no, he was weighing his company.

 "Selena," He said, "Can you put on a show for him?"

 Selena grimaced — it was easy enough to mould herself as though each feature on her face was simply made of clay, as though her entire body was an unfired vase... But that didn't mean it was enjoyable. Selena's face was at its most comfortable when a slight line dug into her frown, and when her brows pinched together just ever so slightly as though questioning each and every movement of those around her — granted, she was.

 She did not have the natural instinct to fill her eyes with a gleam, she did not feel the tug upon her features to grin and smile at every passing body, and she certainly did not present herself as a woman interested in anything a man like Bale had to say. But... If there was one thing she knew and could certainly contest to, a man like Bale would simmer like steeping tea beneath the gaze of an attentive young woman.

 Still, Selena slipped three fingers through the blonde hanging over her temples, ruffling it like a bird preening its feathers. She craned her neck side to side, delighting in the little click that was swiftly buried six feet deep beneath the raucous prison calamity... then, she put on a pretty little smile that would have sooner suited a starry-eyed teenager.

 "How's that?" She forced through the gritted teeth concealed behind her stretching smile.

 Gideon's face twitched, "You're a natural."

 "You make jokes now? Don't." Then she narrowed her gaze on Spencer who just so happened to turn his head to the side in a pitiful attempt to smother the laughter alighting at Gideon's jest, "I saw that."

 The interview room was no more delightful than the rest of the U.S Penetentary; the walls were slathered in a stained shade of dull yellow, and the tiles beneath Selena's Mary Janes were sticky and off-white, the grout between turning an odd concoction of brown and grey. The room was no bigger than a pantry, and a small table was tucked to the side — Bale was sat behind it, lounging as though he was sitting beside a pool beneath the summer sunlight with a mojito in hand.

 His prison-grade uniform was a glaring orange, and the barest sliver of a greying vest peeked through the collar — his eyes hadn't once strayed from Selena who had placed herself opposite him without a word, while Gideon planted himself against the wall, leaning as though this were an everyday jaunt.

 Selena kept the smile on her face, no longer was she clay capable of twisting and crumbling beneath a heavy hand, now she was cement — solidified and unmovable. She clasped her hands together, placing them at the very centre of the table... closer to Bale than herself as she cocked her head.

 She didn't bother to swipe the blonde locks that slipped against her lashes, tangling like unruly vines... she wanted to keep his attention while Gideon spoke, for perhaps it would cause his tongue to coil and slip.

 If not... then she was certainly prepared to act as though she was a star-struck fan with compliments a-plenty tucked within the sleeves of her woollen turtleneck; the one now scratching at her skin like an attention-starved feline.

 Gideon was the first to split the silence, like parting chilling waves lashing at a craggy coast, "You know why I'm here?" There wasn't so much as a tremble or hitch to his tone... but Selena knew if she peered over her slouched shoulders, Jason would be staring through the glass window, rather than at Bale... another reason Selena was all too happy to remain seated before the criminal — to steal his attention from Gideon.

 Adrian Bale sucked in a bored breath, allowing it to slide right back through his lips as he exhaled and slumped against the wall, "The guy in Palm Beach, right? The Palm Beach bomber?" Bale's lips curled, eyes remaining on Selena, "Somebody's got to give him a better name, don't you think?"

 Selena let her smile wobble, not as though it was a leaf about to topple from a branch, but rather as though she was concealing a small bout of amusement. Adrian looked pleased with himself — his shoulders squared, rolled back as though she'd complimented him a thousand times over... this song and dance was beyond pathetically easy.

 "He uses your bombs, your designs..." Gideon drawled.

 Adrian bobbed his head slowly, as though the words were just barely passing towards him, slowly and steadily getting tangled in the air. They hardly allowed him the time to decipher them simply because he was far too focused on the blonde head of hair ruffling in the light breeze hurtling through the rusted vent atop the wall.

 Selena could see him suck in a deep breath, and a scowl rested just beneath the surface of her skin... she'd quite like to break that nose of his.

 "Well," Bale sighed, "He should be careful. Those things are dangerous."

 "Adrian, you can't fool me." Gideon's voice became stone, and Selena could finally feel that telltale prickle on the back of her neck alerting her to eyes drawn her way, "If you're involved in this in any way and you do not help me, I will make your life even worse than it is now."

 Selena's jaw tightened... She knew now, with Gideon having opened the door to the past, Adrian would hastily step through. The words Gideon had spouted were not true, he could be fooled by Adrian and he had been... but that was the point. If Jason pretended as though he had bested Bale even when he hadn't, Adrian's ego simply wouldn't be able to cope. He'd have to rebuke, and they could only hope he'd give something away when he did.

 "Oh, but no. Actually, I can fool you because I fooled you before." And there it was. Bale was smiling now, "And now there's another me out there. Watching. Waiting."

 Jason only opened the door to his nightmare wider, "You were more ruthless than I expected. If you hadn't pushed that button, you might've had a chance at parole someday."

 Selena had already come to the conclusion that if their copycat was truly just a moron with a heart thudding for Adrian Bale, if they were in contact at all... Then their unsub would not only adopt Bale's bombs and thirst for chaos but his thought process.

 If that were the case, they could profile Bale instead, they could flip through his case file and have the answers at the ready.

 All they needed was for Bale to prove her theory, they just needed him to tug on the piece of red string connecting him to their elusive, blurry-faced unsub.

 Bale pursed his lips, "Yeah," his head lolled to the aide, his stare breaking from Selena's peach skin for the shortest of seconds. Beaded eyes sailed past her side, zoning in on Gideon as he shifted, "You know, I've thought a lot about that day, and there's one thing I still can't understand. You trusted me. Why?"

 "I never trusted you —"

 "— You listened to me."

 "I made an error. I calculated you wouldn't do it, and you did. Whatever you think, I'm going to walk out of here," Gideon had finally made his way to the table. A single hand found Selena's shoulder, squeezing just ever so slightly — an indication that the moment Bale would finish whatever little monologue he was sure to spout, he was going to leave, and it was time for her to work her magic. He leaned over, dark-tinted eyes trained upon Bales, "and you never will."

 There was a slight chill to the room the moment Bale leaned forth, creases appearing beside his eyes as a sickly smile tugged at his aged, chapped lips. He stared straight at Gideon, sure to make each word he spoke strike like a punch, "Here's what I think." He started, lips only curling further, "Sending those agents into that warehouse, it just doesn't make sense. I mean, I've read your books. I had all those things...What did you call it? A homicidal triad. I even came from a broken family. Classic sociopath. So when I had the chance to kill six agents, plus a hostage... I mean, just because I gave myself up doesn't mean that I was finished with those people. I still had the remote. You... You should have known that."

 Selena watched him closely, all the while keeping her crafted smile perfectly intact. The haze of mocking faded from Adrian, and instead a glaze smothered his eyes. There was something desperate within them, something that looked to be...craving.

 Adrian chuckled, "The emotional release I would feel by pressing that button... Well, that was just a little too overwhelming to pass up." His hands crept forth along the table, fingers intertwined as they landed right beside Selena's... she didn't dare move away, instead, the slightest glimmer of a smile perked the corners of her lips — Adrian eyed it, and then he turned back to address Gideon one final time, "Why didn't you search me before sending those agents in? Why didn't you do your job, Agent Gideon?"

 "Now, not that I don't enjoy the company," Bale's serpent-like voice slithered from the tip of his tongue, his neck craning closer as he scanned Selena's blonde head of hair, her curled lashes that had been darkened to the deepest shade of black, her dull-green eyes that flooded with a particular gleam... and then he leaned backwards, legs parted beneath the table while he splayed his arms to either side — taking up as much room as humanly possible. He was trying to be imposing, impressive... how... how sad, "But why would Agent Gideon leave his pretty little companion all on her lonesome?"

 "Oh," Selena cooed, her voice as sugary and thick as crystallising honey — nothing like her particular low drawl filled with nothing but rasp. Someone had once stated that it sounded as though she smoked three packs a day, which was a fair description, she supposed, "You know... He thinks I can't get myself into any trouble."

 "Can you?"

 She teetered closer, lopsided lips parting way for a toothy smile, "Absolutely... however, right now I want to know more about you."

 His mouth parted, as though he was going to try and decipher her meaning — by the way his features suddenly sharpened, the way his shoulders tensed, he thought she was going to dig even deeper than Gideon. But Selena slapped on her facade even thicker.

 She peered at the window, watching as Gideon and Reid stood together, their attention more on their conversation than Selena's person. She cleared her throat and let her sweetened tone lower just a tad, "Gideon doesn't trust anyone... well, nobody that he should trust. I'm here because he thinks I'm a kid, a girl barely out of her teenage years that couldn't possibly cause any harm. It's why he made the call that day; there was no discussion, no input from the lives he decided to sacrifice —" She'd snagged Bale immediately, threading a hook through his attention, reeling him to land, to her mercy; and all it took was a few bad words about the man Adrian loathed.

 "So what exactly is it you want from me?"

 "I just want you to answer some of my questions."

 He considered this, eyes lashing to and fro from Selena and Gideon. He lingered on Gideon for a short while, watching how the man's face never once changed — it was plain as he spoke, with no gestures, no furrowed brows... Absolutely nothing. Bale balled a hand atop his knee, "You answer one of mine, first."

 "Shoot."

 "Do you trust Agent Gideon?"

 "With my life, or to solve a case?"

 Bale's grin was nothing less than sharp; without answering, she'd inadvertently — yet purposefully, but Bale didn't need to know that — revealed that her answers would differ according to his distinction, "Both."

 "He can solve a case faster and better than anybody I know," Start with the truth to soften the lie, make it seem more believable, "But..." Stutter and stammer, make it seem as though it was a difficult question to answer. Selena cleared her throat, "But I don't think I trust him to keep me alive. Maybe before... before everything that happened, I would have. But his drive to solve a case — I think sometimes it outweighs his desire to save lives."

 There was something about that last line she'd spoken. It echoed around her brain, throbbing and thumping. It was a lie in regards to Gideon, but was it a lie about herself? 

 "Interesting."

 "My turn?" Let him make the decisions —boost his ego.

 Bale nodded, satisfied, "Your turn."

 "Did you mean it?"

 He hummed in turn and Selena drew closer. She was almost standing as she craned over the table, her voice scarcely above a whisper, "When you said it would be too overwhelming to pass up the opportunity to press the button, did you mean that?"

 "Yes."

 She slumped back into her seat, allowing the stiffness of her back to fade away as she teetered back in her chair. Two legs lifted from the ground, "Even if it meant risking your own life?"

 Adrian's voice was low, deep and ragged as he breathed his one-word answer, "Yes."

 And that was all she needed.

 Selena's fingers flexed the moment Adrian Bale had been escorted from the room. She was left alone momentarily, left to breathe and let the facade fall from her features. Her brows dropped, eyes becoming dull. The slight tick to her lips shuddered and dropped as though her falsified smile had been a dead leaf clinging to a decaying branch, finally toppling free.

 She leaned back, fingers planted against her temples. Migraines always seemed to pound within her skull whenever a part had to be played — the sensation of twisting her body until it was unrecognisable, the feeling of raising her voice until it finally suited her pretty blonde appearance was grating. There were a pitiful few who could understand it, the ache and tiredness that came shortly after dropping the veil that kept one's true self at bay.

 Selena blinked rapidly, finally clocking that the incessant buzz within the room was, in fact, stemming from the dreadful yellow light flickering above her head. The glare was irritating, the sound like having a damned wasp trapped by her ear — Selena's chair toppled to the ground as she abruptly stood and vacated the room without a second glance.

 "Selena?" Gideon's voice came as something no louder than a whisper, as though he already knew and sensed the blinding pain erupting behind her narrow-set eyes. He observed, watching the way her fingers curled inwards, pressing crescent moons upon her peach-coloured palms, and then they once more unfurled. It was her tick, her tell — The one that warned him of an oncoming storm, should they linger in the midst of chaos, screams and the buzzing of irritable lighting. Gideon nodded, then he jutted his chin, "Walk and talk."

 It didn't take Spencer more than a second to catch up with those spindly legs of his. His mismatched coloured Converse slapped against the ground, fingers taut around the leather strap of his satchel as he swiftly piped up, "JJ called while you were with Bale, officers managed to save a young girl and her mother from one of the bombs."

 Selena's nod was sharp, "That's good." she almost winced at how monotonous she sounded, and instead cleared her throat, "Any connections between victims, yet?"

 Spencer shook his head, tufts of mousy hair slipping before his wide brown eyes, "No... Did you — did you get anything from Bale?"

 "Maybe... Bale's definitely a part of this, but I don't think he's in control."

 "Why's that?"

 Selena pointed a single, perfectly manicured finger past Spencer's face, aligning it with Gideon. The glitter embossed into her nail shimmered for a moment, the only spark of luminescence throughout the dreary corridor to which they strolled, "Bale's a classic narcissist, pair that with the fact that he'd just love to taunt Gideon with the specifics... but he didn't. He doesn't have the specifics."

 Gideon agreed, "However if he wasn't a part of this before, he'll certainly be a part of it now."

 "You're on the case; if anything is going to convince Bale to try his luck... it's you."

 The grimace upon her mentor's face was evident, as though it had been carved with a chisel. Selena weighed their options — they knew now, for certain, that Adrian Bale wasn't their puppeteer... but with Gideon's appearance, and with Selena's own insistence to dig her claws into the man, who was to say that Bale wouldn't begin to concoct his own plans? What if they had been a spark to a very unfortunate — and explosive — match?

 "If he does get involved, if Bale starts to take control..." Selena's lips ticked then, an odd sort of look considering the lifelessness of her eyes, "Things might become harder... but he'll have handed us a profile on a silver platter."

 If anything, Selena almost hoped Adrian would step closer to the spotlight and command it with his own hands. If he became the man in charge, the one twisting the stings and implementing those wretched ideas... the case would solve itself. They'd profiled Bale once, so they could just as easily do it again.

 Their footsteps echoed along the great grey corridor, bouncing from wall to wall as reaching fingers and bared teeth scraped against the iron bars of the cells. Orange jumpsuits squirmed and inmates howled as they passed, but soon enough their blessed light at the end of the tunnel appeared in the form of an electrical door stationed with grizzly-looking guards.

 Only two sets of steps proceeded, and when Selena's ears twitched at the sound, she halted, casting a look behind her as the meek Doctor wrung his jittery hands together, "I hope you're not looking for a permanent residence here... something tells me you wouldn't fit in."

 Spencer stuttered a laugh, though he was certain it sounded more akin to a dreadful choke. The plain way in which she'd joked had caught him off guard, and then his mind had tried to stir up an image to match her words, "Um, no." He pointed the way they'd fled, "I think I'm going to stay behind and monitor his mail, calls, visitors and any contact he has with the outside world."

 "Good idea. The unsub might contact him... and now that Bale knows Gideon's here —"

 Gideon seized the silence that his protege left behind for him, "— He might contact the unsub."

 Spencer responded with a silent nod, lips curling inwards with that awkward grin he didn't know he'd offer up at any given chance. He stuttered on his toes for a moment, before the dull sound of his proceeding steps trailed behind him like an unwanted smell.

 Selena's eyebrow quirked, "Was I ever like that?"

 "No." Gideon chuckled, "You were worse."

 "You think being rude, cold and entirely unfeeling was worse than..." She pondered for a moment, watching as Spencer stalked away like a jolly green giant. His trousers hung over the back of his Converse, dragging on the ground while his shirt bunched up above his waistline from the excess material.

 Gideon planted a hand on her bicep, sure to remove his palm the moment he'd steered her back on course, "He'll grow into himself."

 "I don't think he needs to —" Her head cocked, a singular blonde strange tangling within her lashes like a vine upon a trellis, "Well, except for the fact that he can't speak a single sentence without blushing."

 "You make him nervous."

 Selena frowned, recalling every moment in which she and the scrawny doctor had intercepted. She was certain she'd never been plainly rude, nor at all intimidating... "Why?"

 Gideon grinned, nodding at the guards as they passed through the electrical door. The contraption let out a shrill beep as they sauntered through. For all the logical thinking his counterpart could do, for all the problems she could solve with the snap of a pretty pink fingers... she still couldn't understand that people were... well... people, and that she was still a girl with a pretty face, no matter how hard she tried to bury it beneath blood, guts, gore and red coloured string.

 Gideon soldiered on, rather content with the sound of hurried steps that slapped upon the linoleum floor as Selena scurried to catch up, "You'll understand when you're older."

 The jet back to Palm Beach had been quiet; with only Selena and Gideon to fill the pale-leather seats — two people that decidedly liked to think, rather than talk — hardly a sound was made. Selena swiped a finger over the trackpad of the old and clunky laptop before her, trying her best to ignore the way her left eye twitched at the sound it made as the fan worked its damned ass off.

 A dull little chime echoed around them, and Selena swiftly hovered her cursor over the new message clogging her organised emails, "Garcia sent over everything she and Spencer found from Bale's prison logs..." Selena sighed, her lips curling closer to the floor as she identified the grotesque amount of porn laid before her eyes, "Well... that's a felony —" Selena shook her head, "One hundred and eighty-six emails... Through the IPS Garcia managed to track down some of the names and addresses but none of them seem to be in Palm Beach."

 Gideon slouched in the chair opposite her, elbows atop the table as he locked his fingers together, "Occupations?"

 Selena hummed, "It wasn't a required field so... only about a third are filled out but the unsub would take pride in his work so," She swiped a finger, eyes darting to and fro as she devoured the words illuminating the email, "Trucker physician, antiquities dealer, store owner —"

 Selena blinked, rolling back just a moment as her brain clocked what she'd just uttered, "Antiquities dealer... Elle said that Mrs Keller collected antique coins."

 Gideon exhaled, back planted against his chair as Selena scrawled their findings onto a notepad — a glittered gel pen glided over the paper, messy writing looping and curling, something hardly intelligible unless you were to use Selena's eyes.

 She grinned, underlining the word antiquities dealer three separate times; finally, a puzzle piece that slotted itself into place, "I'll tell Hotchner."

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DATE: 23/12/2023

:･ﾟ★ 'he'll grow into himself.' 'i don't think he needs to' BYE... and then she goes straight into judging him lmaoooo she's a BULLY and she'll STAY A BULLY.

also lmao, sorry for the long break, can't guarantee updates will be frequent but i hope you enjoyed this nonetheless!

I will, however, be updating my current stories on Christmas day (this story and arsonists lullaby (a kaz brekker fic), as well as uploading the intro and prologue for a new story to see its reception. 

please don't forget to comment and follow - any 'UpdAte!1' comments will lead to being muted and updates will only come if people interact!